Automatic Sales Tax Collection and Other Changes Coming to Gunbroker
Luke Cuenco 12.16.20
Gunbroker.com is going to be making some changes as 2020 comes to a close. Some of these changes look to be great additions to the online firearms auction website while others perhaps seem more troubling to the average consumer. Gunbroker will soon be putting into place their Marketplace Facilitator Sales tax regulations beginning on January 1st of 2021. In addition to this change, it seems there will be much quality of life improvements that should help out those searching for their next gun buy on Gunbroker. The following is from a December 4th posting on the Gunbroker Support Page:
GunBroker.com will implementing the new Marketplace Facilitator Internet Sales Tax regulations on January 1, 2021. As a marketplace, GunBroker.com will be required to collect and remit sales tax on all sales according to the state law.
What is a Marketplace Facilitator?
A Marketplace Facilitator is defined as an entity that provides a forum for sellers to promote their sale of physical property, digital goods, and services and is compensated for these services. As such, GunBroker.com is deemed to be a Marketplace Facilitator for sellers on the site.
What is Marketplace Facilitator Legislation?
Marketplace Facilitator legislation is a set of laws that shifts the sales tax collection and remittance obligations from the individual seller to the marketplace facilitator. As the Marketplace Facilitator, GunBroker.com will have to calculate, collect and remit state sales tax on sales sold by third party sellers for transactions destined to states where Marketplace Facilitator and/or Marketplace collection legislation is enacted.
I personally don’t believe the addition of automatic calculation of sales tax is necessary. However, I do understand the need to keep things squeaky clean from the Gunbroker.com side. While not all online retailers will collect sales tax, the ones that do tend to be larger stores that have already factored these expense into their bottom line as far as selling go. For others, this may encroach on any profits they had hoped to make when combined with the fees that Gunbroker.com already puts into place for the use of their platform.
Some other proposed changes to the online experience for gunbroker are as follows:
Recent Releases and Under Development
- GunBroker Pay Auto Payment – Pay your GunBroker.com Fees with GunBroker Pay and receive a discount on your payment. Learn more here: https://www.gunbrokerpay.com/save/
- Updates to Order Grid – We are in the process of updating the order grid to include more information in less space. We will also color code status information and allow for the visible data to expand and collapse for easier viewing.
- Cash Discount / Credit Card Fee Name Standardization– We will be standardizing this name to Credit Card Fee. The site uses different name in different places so to make things clear, we will standardize on Credit Card Fee.
- Internet Sales Tax – GunBroker.com will begin collecting sales tax as a marketplace facilitator.
- New Online Listing Process – We are in the process of creating a new, responsive listing page that makes greater use of item defaults, allows for easier picture loading and working with standard text all in one place.
- Improved Credit Request Process – Changes to simplify and accelerate the credit request process are coming.
Items being Discussed or Defined
- Require a picture for all listings
- Using the first picture as the thumbnail and not allowing a separate image
- Requiring the first picture be specifically of the item for sale
- Better display of shipping costs to make shipping comparisons easier for buyers.
- Require an FFL to be selected upon check out.
- Adding the ability for a Seller logo and business description in order to brand their listings better.
- Supporting rich text descriptions so it is easier to format listing details.
Questions or concerns about the above should be directed to SiteInfo@GunBroker.com. Thank you.
Many of these changes might actually be quite welcome for many Gunbroker Users, however, I don’t believe many will be too happy with the sales tax changes for one reason or another. However, the changes that are currently under discussion are some of the most interesting ones to me as they affect me directly as a customer of the website. Hopefully these changes are for the better and won’t negatively affect the user experience in the long run.
